The Price the Universe Asked
by Temporal Austenite
Summary: A 'The Girl Who Waited' fic about what happened after Amy woke up.


_The first question Amy asked when she woke up is the hardest question to answer...  
>AmyRory, Hurt/Comfort/Romance, Doctor Angst  
>Please read and review! My thanks the the 1000 visitors last month! Sorry it's so late this month!<em>

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><p>"Where is she?" Amy looked drowsy, and her voice may have sounded a bit drowsy too, but it cut Rory to the core.<p>

"She…" Rory looked over at the Doctor, looking for help, but he was gone.

She shook her head to wake up a little, and tried to sit up, but he checked her pulse to keep her lying down. "Why isn't she here? Rory, where is she?"

"Amy, how are you feeling? How's your head? Any dizziness, any after effects?" He asked, attempting to nurse her. She swatted his hands away, continuing to attempt to pull herself up.

"Where is she?" Amy sat up, much too quickly for Rory's liking, but she seemed relatively unaffected. "Tell me we didn't leave her behind."

Rory looked down, "Sometimes, it's easy to see why the Doctor is the way he is."

"Tell me we didn't leave her behind to never exist and die back there. Rory Williams. Tell me we saved her."

Rory considered lying for half a second, imaging himself saying, "You woke up too late, we dropped her off already. She demanded the planet of the coffee shops, can you imagine? I hope I never have to see you without caffeine that long again." He imagined her look of disappointment, of worry, then of relief. If she asked when they were going to go pick her up, he'd lie again and tell her that older Amy had asked to be left alone. The same emotions would play across his Amy's face.

Or maybe she would know he was lying to her, and call him out on it. Maybe she would just give him a sad look and not say anything, prepared to accept the fact that he would lie to her. She would never fully trust him again, not really. But maybe she would dream, wistfully, of the other her having amazing adventures all by herself, running into River and going to all of the places she had been before. Reliving life alone.

He couldn't do that to her, couldn't betray her trust the way the Doctor did, time and time again. The way he betrayed older Amy one last time. Maybe she knew the Doctor was lying to her, to get back young Amy, who didn't hate him. Maybe she didn't care and hoped he would come through one more time. Amy Pond, the girl who waited, waiting 36 years…maybe she never actually gave up hope that they would come save her.

He hoped she didn't. She had to have known that Rory would always come for her. He had promised her, from their first kiss to their engagement to their wedding and every day in before, between and afterwards, that he would protect her.

He didn't say anything, only raised his head towards the door.

"Why?" Amy grabbed his arms, "Why didn't we save her?"

"She didn't let me. She told me not to let her in. She said to tell me that she was giving us," Maybe one lie, to lessen the pain, "Giving us the time together. To grow old together. To be happy."

"Why couldn't she have come?" She took his face in her hands, forcing him to look at her. He met her eyes for a second, but looked down again.

"The paradox would have been too big. If she came in, you wouldn't exist."

Her hands dropped back down his arms to grab his hands. "There have been two of me in the TARDIS before. Remember? With the looking up my skirt?"

He looked back up at her now, a ghost of a smile on his face, and then shook his head. He tried to explain. "Not in the same time stream. It was past you and future you and not two of you from the now. At least that's what I got from their explanation."

"Hers and the Doctor's."

"Yes." He felt her press a hand against his face to cradle his cheek, and covered it with one of his own. He watched her eyes stare into his own, searching for an answer beyond that one syllable.

"And you were there."

Rory closed his eyes so Amy couldn't see the hurt in his eyes. "Yes."

"I'm sorry. He didn't even sonic it shut on you, did he? He always gives you the choice. When you disappeared, he didn't let me take you. Didn't let me stay. Made me leave you. Sonic'd it shut and let me watch you disappear." She hugged him, "It's not fair. Mad, impossible me gets the hard choices taken, but Responsible Rory has to make his own. It's not fair."

"I'm sorry." Rory choked out into her hair, and she felt a tear drop wind its way through her hair onto her shoulder, "I'm so sorry. I tried. Would have tried. Amy, I'm so, so sorry."

"It's okay. Rory, it's not your fault. She—I—told you to lock the door, right? It's not your fault. She was so sad and so lonely. She didn't want that anymore. She was jaded and bitter and horrible and I never ever want to turn into that. Don't let me, okay? And don't ever, ever, walk off without me again." She laughed quietly in his ear.

"I think I've learned my lesson." He joked weakly, still holding her tightly in the embrace, not yet willing to let go. "How long were you there alone?"

"A few weeks. Maybe two? It was hard to tell. There weren't clocks or anything. I didn't need to sleep, not really, or eat. It was all in a day, you know? Your version of a day. But for me it was ages. I tried to sleep, but I didn't need too."

"I'm so, so sorry."

"Shut up, stupid face. It's not your fault." She pulled out of the embrace, and he saw her tear soaked face. "It was my choice. I made the choice. For us. To save us. Do you know why she helped? Cause of you. Because you're worth every price the universe could offer. You're so beautiful, so wonderful. It was her choice."

"Yeah. Yeah. I know. But. I still feel wrong about it."

"Yeah. I know. Me too." She pulled him back into a hug, burying her face into his shoulder as he pressed his head against her hair.

They did not hear the Doctor, down the hallway, slumped against the wall, whisper, "Me too."

Sometimes, it is easy to see the way he could have been.

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><p><em>Thank you for reading this, and please drop a review!<br>_


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